March 1, 2005

ULM Well Prepared for NCAA APR Report

MONROE, La. - - - The NCAA announcement yesterday of the Academic
Progress Rate (APR) Report may have caught some institutions
by surprise, but not the University of Louisiana at Monroe. The
APR is a new NCAA initiative to encourage improved academic performance
among student-athletes.

"We welcome the report as an additional tool to help us
in our ongoing efforts to assess the academic needs of all our
students," said Barbara Michaelides, ULM Director of Retention.
"The programs we have in place and the programs we are developing
will help all our students successfully progress towards graduation."

Dr. "Skeet" Creekmore, Professor of Education, Chairman
of the Faculty Athletic Council and Faculty Athletic Representative
to the NCAA said "The APR will provide the Faculty Athletic
Council with yet another means of tracking the progress of our
student-athletes semester by semester and helping them to succeed
academically as well as athletically."

According to Creekmore, the ULM Faculty Athletic Council conducted
a self study six years ago that reviewed all aspects of the role,
scope and mission of the ULM athletics program, including equity,
finances, and academics. As an important component of the review,
the NCAA conducted a site visit to the ULM campus - one of the
first institutions in the nation to be reviewed. The NCAA was
impressed with the ULM model and report and used it as the model
for other institutions.

Last year the Faculty Athletic Council began a 5 year look-behind
self-study and report, that included a review of the academic
progress of ULM student-athletes requested by the NCAA in the
sports of men's basketball and baseball. According to Creekmore
"The graduation rates for two of the teams were not an issue
in that graduation rates for both team cohorts were strong."

He sited several measures that were established to assist student-athletes.
The Council decided last year that it wanted to serve as academic
mentors to the entire student-athlete community. To that end,
it has been constructing the Faculty Athletic Council Academic
Mentoring Program which focuses on supporting the needs of our
entire student-athlete cohort. Each member of the faculty athletic
council will serve as a mentor for our athletes. "This very
much strengthens the tie between academics and athletics, enhancing
recruitment as well as retention," Creekmore said. "Additionally,
the Department of Athletics has put in place an academic tutoring
program which serves the very important purpose of assisting
student-athletes who are at-risk for academic problems. This
departmental program is working very well with this group of
student-athletes. Programs we have in place for our overall student
body juxtapose well with the services that are being provided
to our student-athletes."

Bobby Staub, ULM Director of Athletics agreed, and added "We
have to do some things on our end to improve performance."
He added that at this time, the NCAA APR is for informational
purposes only. Eventually, the APR will be comprised of four
years of rolling data regarding eligibility, retention and graduation
rates. Beginning in 2005-2006, results of the APR report could
result in contemporaneous penalties for individual athletics
programs that do not meet the required standards.

Michaelides said that ULM has several programs in place to assist
students with academic performance. Those include supplemental
instruction, the emerging scholars mentoring program, and Freshman
Interest Groups.

Josh Brooks, Director of Football Operations, said those programs
compliment other programs provided through the Department of
Athletics. "The student-athletes must attend a mandatory
study hall five nights a week. In addition, we provide mentors
for the new student-athletes to keep them on track. Our compliance
office monitors the progress of every student-athlete. They let
us know if a student-athlete misses a class or assignment or
if they need additional support."

Regarding the APR Report, Head Football Coach Charlie Weatherbie
said, "If we expect good things and provide the necessary
support, we'll achieve excellence."

"Student retention is just as important to us as recruitment,"
said ULM President James Cofer. "We want all our students
to succeed and graduate. We are rapidly developing the academic
infrastructure to assist every student. This NCAA initiative
goes hand in hand with the University of Louisiana System initiative
that was established last year to improve retention and graduation
rates of all students and we are serious about making improvements."

More information regarding the APR program is available at www.ncaa.org.

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